The Naughty List by Edward Lorn

This is a holiday themed short horror story. If you are squeamish or easily offended, this isn’t the book for you. However, if you love the darker side to holidays, reindeer, elves, imps, and toys, then look no further! This is the holiday book for you.

Santa has his hands full in this tale! He’s using his elf magic to travel the world in one night and deliver goodies to all the well behaved kids who celebrate Xmas. He uses holiday house decorations to help guide his sleigh, and he doesn’t mind if they are a bit crooked or ragtag. He touches down at secluded house that would look disreputable in anything other than the warm glow of holiday lights. As he goes about his business, he soon sees that not all is as it should be. He begins to suspect the impish demons known as the Naughties are at play.

So, obviously I can’t talk too many specifics here without giving away the whole plot. So lets get all gooey and talk feelings. This book made me giggle and chuckle. I was definitely rooting for Santa and his team of reindeer. They are better fighters than you might think. But the Naughties have their own brand of cleverness and also the huge numbers. They also have worthy names like Puss. Having read several other Lorn works, I really didn’t know if Santa and his team would make it out alive. Yep, that’s the kind of story this could be.

I was really glad to see that the reindeer behave more as wild animals than as tame feeding zoo pets. They are also lead by Vixen in this tale, she having the common sense to know when to fight and when to retreat. The reindeer do bring the pain. Many a Naughty will not be forgetting them any time soon. The story has a good mix of common sense and violence. After all, the Naughties are demon imps that are up to no good. They must be taken down! Maybe Santa wears red for a variety of reasons, one of them being the practical necessity to hide a bit of blood here and there.

Overall, this was an excellent little tale and just the perfect holiday story for my tastes.

Edward Lorn was kind enough to make this short story and the sequel available for free on Amazon for a week this year, so don’t miss your opportunity to pick them up and enjoy!

What I Liked: Common sense brutality; reindeer being reindeer; Santa’s red clothing; the Naughties; ready for more!